District looks to outsource custodial services

Thursday

Jun 13, 2013 at 10:51 AM

LAKEVILLE — An RFP (request for proposals) that was put out by the Freetown Lakeville Regional School District in an attempt to produce savings by outsourcing custodial services proved to be controversial at last week's school committee meeting.

Matthew Ferreira

LAKEVILLE — An RFP (request for proposals) that was put out by the Freetown Lakeville Regional School District in an attempt to produce savings by outsourcing custodial services proved to be controversial at last week's school committee meeting.

Director of Business Michael Ward announced the top three most suitable companies to respond to the RFP based on a rubric-like rating system that determines how well companies will fit the needs of the district. The companies were SJ Services, Jani-Clean and GCA.

"I think all of us at the table know that our custodians take a lot of pride in their work and they do a lot that's above and beyond what the scope of their job is currently so we'd need to make sure apples to apples are covered before we can even go down that road," said Chairman Robert Nogueira early in the discussion.

Shortly after, school committee member Robert Clark made a motion to table the discussions until more information had been reviewed by the committee. Based on a quick estimation, Mr. Clark reported potential savings to be about $57 a week compared to current custodial services stating, "For $57 a week I don't think we should be entertaining this at this point."

The motion failed with only Mr. Clark and Mr. Nogueira supporting it.

"I understand your money aspects. I know that money is very tight (but) I want you to consider "¦ there are times that staff need you," said one district custodian of 19 years. "I myself supposedly saved $2,000 last year when we were cleaning GRAIS and I washed the curtains in the showers. Nobody could figure out how to do it...We're constantly playing everyone else's roles. Nobody's asking for more money; nobody's making excuses — we're all doing it. I want you to think very carefully; as a taxpayer you might be saving a lot of money but you've got to make sure that "¦ those people that you're hiring "¦ are going to be able to do what you need them (to do) at that particular time during the day."

Other examples given of non-custodial work regularly performed by custodians in the district included helping a handicapped child, electrical wiring, and repairing washing machines.

Assawompset Elementary School teacher Maria Martin provided further instances of current custodians exceeding their roles, including showing up off schedule to assist during emergencies, assembling arms for new projectors, and landscaping. She commended Mr. Clark and Mr. Nogueira for their positions taken on the issue.

In other news, Curriculum and Grants Director Lisha Cabral reported on the recent visit DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) conducted the previous week. Ms. Cabral described the visiting team as "very thorough" receiving feedback describing them as "extremely cordial guests".

"It really was a team effort and I feel very confident that the team was able to get an extremely thorough and very clear picture of what is going on in every facet of operations here."

According to DESE, a preliminary report on their findings based on interviews and classroom observations should be sent out in six weeks. Once finalized, the report will be made public.